1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a stringed musical instrument having a soundboard and/or other enhancements made of a dense material, in particular, granite, and more particularly, to a music generating device including acoustic instruments and electrically amplified musical instruments, with further particularity, the invention relates to a high density veneer and/or other stone enhancements for a string instrument such as a guitar, bass, banjo, viola, cello. Dobro™ and lapsteel guitar, and the like.
2. Related Art
It is well recognized that wood, in particular aged wood, makes an ideal material for such musical instruments such as a piano, violin, guitar, or the like. U.S. Pat. No. 3,769,871 to Cawthorn for a “Stone Guitar With A Tuned Neck”, issued in 1973. The patent discloses a heavy stone slab, typically 1 to 1.125 inches thick for use in guitars. According to the patent, the flat stone body is of a mineral or petrified matter such as granite, marble, onyx, rose quartz, petrified wood, or agate. It can have a hollowed out cavity for the electric pickups. It is a solid body guitar except for the cavity for the electrifying of the guitar. It is further disclosed that the cavity can be covered with a conventional pick guard.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,267,499 to Othon, discloses a method of enhancing and modifying the visual and aural characteristics of a stringed instrument wherein the flat surfaces of a stone and the body of a stringed instrument are adhesively secured together. The stone is worked while the stone is bonded to the instrument to reduce the thickness of the stone and produce a stone laminate. According to the disclosure of the patent, the stone employed may be extremely dense and hard, extremely soft (soapstone being an example), or anywhere in between in order to provide the desired effect. An extremely hard rock, for example, will give the musical instrument great sustain properties. A softer rock or stone, on the other hand, may be used to affect the sound in other ways, such as “softening” the tone and resonance. The patent further discloses that when the stone laminate is positioned at the pick guard of an electric stringed instrument, the aural characteristics are affected due to shielding of the instrument's electronic components.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,097,514 for an Equilateral Tetrahedral Speaker discloses that the enclosure can be constructed of dense material such as a CORIAN™ material to minimize enclosure coloration. CORIAN™ is Dupont's registered trademark for its premium quality brand of solid surface product that is a solid, homogeneous, filled material containing methyl methacrylate.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,190,739 for High-Fidelity Stereo Sound System discloses that in an actual embodiment of a surface, marble gravel was glued across the surface of a parabolic surface like the parabolic surface of well-known microwave antennas.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,805,221 for the Construction of Sound Converter in Sound Guide Especially for Loudspeakers, for Example Speaker Boxes, discloses that the conventional technology for attaining this object consists in providing the sound guide and housing with sufficiently thick walls, adding braces and reinforcements, and/or selecting a material which has high internal clamping. Examples of this are speaker boxes made of concrete, marble, ceramic Plexiglas, and aluminum.